Population II
Population II is the first solo album by Randy Holden and ultimately the only solo project under the name Population II with Chris Lockheed. Released in 1970 via Hobbit Records unknown to Holden's knowledge it gained a significant cult following for fans of garage rock, proto-metal and Blue Cheer. The original pressing also garners a high value in a similar vein to proto-metal/hard rock rarities like Growers of Mushroom by Leaf Hound for example. The album's sound is a slower, heavier psychedelic as compared to Blue Cheer or other bands at the time, resembling a precursor to doom metal and grunge and a significant prototype of the "power duo" style of bands in doom and sludge like Jucifer, Beast In The Field, Bell Witch, Bismuth, Dirtbag, Conan and Om among others. Background Writing and Recording Randy Holden would quit Blue Cheer in the early 1969 in the middle of recording the band's third album New! Improved! due to constant conflicts with management and monetary issues on top of a general disinterest in drug culture (A surprising parallel to Leigh Stephens' frustrations and departure from the band in 1968) as explained in an interview with Furious Randy explained how he joined Blue Cheer and the reasons for his departure: After leaving Blue Cheer and having a sponsorship with Sunn O))) amps who made sixteen custom 200-watt amps for Holden, which he described the process of touring with them in the same interview with Furious as "They were designing this new amp for me--200 watts in every cabinet. And they gave me all of them I wanted. And I would cart these things on the airplane as excess baggage in those days. When I would show up at the airport, the guy would just freak out and see 20 huge cases coming out of this old black and white police bus. It was quite funny, really.". Holden would begin working with country drummer Chris Lockheed who joined upon seeing him with Blue Cheer in Stockton. The vision of Holden was creating a solo record described as "nuclear", recording with all of these amps in an old opera house. The name Population II stemmed from the project being just a "power duo". Recording this album in a massive volume in late 1969 with the intent of a release that same year the album ultimately would not be released by the label and Holden's equipment ended up stolen, leaving him bankrupt and quitting the music business for many years. The duo never performed or toured in support of the record either. Ultimately Population II was released on Hobbit Records in 1970 unknown to Holden, whom had moved to Hawaii without any intent of ever releasing the record at the time. The original masters had been passed through multiple labels and ultimately lost. In 1991, Holden would find out about it's release to the public and the cult following that came from it and spark his interest in writing music and possibly performing again upon moving back to California. With a winning lawsuit against a label not named, Holden regained the rights and royalties to Population II, with subsequent releases of the record officially authorized by him. Holden explains the process of recording the finding out of it's release in an interview with It's Psychedelic Baby!: On 20 December 2019 it would be announced that RidingEasy Records would do a proper reissue of Population II as Holden performed at the Whisky-A-Go-Go the next night, Holden himself stating: "The original mastering just destroyed the dynamics of it,” Holden says. “They flattened it out. Now we got a really nice remaster that should be the closest thing to the original recording.".The Obelisk Pressings NOTE: While there have been many pressings of Population II, only select pressings listed as "official" by Discogs will be displayed here. * LP, Hobbit Records, 1970 - The original press and the rarest. Nearly all original copies have a drill-hole through the center of the cover and the label. The original disc pocket is brownish-grey. * LP, Line Records, 1982 - A repress that is now just as rare as the Hobbit press. The cover of this German 80s pressing is taken from a photo of the first pressing, which reproduces the drill hole commonly found in the center of the jacket on original copies. You can faintly see among the stars in the center of the front cover. * LP, Hobbit Records, 2005 - A repress of the original Hobbit issue without any runout matrix numbers. * LP, Hobbit Records, 2005 - A repress authorized by Holden, hand-numbered, signed and limited to 2000 copies. * CD, Guitar God Music, 2007 - Official CD press authorized by Holden, remastered.. * LP, CD and Digital, RidingEasy Records, 2020 - Remastered re-issue authorized by Holden. Tracklist All songs written by Randy Holden. *A1. Guitar Song (6:06) *A2. Fruit & Iceburgs (5:59) *A3. Between Time (1:48) *A4. Fruit & Iceburgs (Conclusion) (1:48) *B1. Blue My Mind (6:01) *B2. Keeper Of My Flame (10:07) Personnel * Randy Holden - Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Producer * Chris Lockheed - Drums * Dallas Jordan Engineer * Hank Cicalo - Engineer * Russ Schmidt - Engineer * Les Brown Jr. - Executive Producer * Michael O'Bryant - Artwork, Photography External Links *Population II on Randy Holden's Official Page *Population II on Discogs *TeamRock feature on Population II *Julian Cope article on Population II *NNM2 Blog post on Population II *Tiny Mix Tapes article on Population II *John Katz article on Population II *The Obelisk article on Population II References Category:Release Category:Studio Album Category:Randy Holden Category:Blue Cheer Category:Proto-Metal Category:Heavy Metal Category:Psychedelic Rock Category:Acid Rock Category:Hard Rock Category:Solo Project Category:One-Offs Category:Doom Metal Category:Grunge Category:1970 Category:RidingEasy Records